The Right Decisions
by comebacknever
Summary: Human AU. Romano Vargas has lived his life as a hired freelance thief to support his brother and himself. The paths he chooses aren't always the safest or smartest. One last job could finally give him the freedom he's always wanted, or end his life entirely. T for language. Other pairings may occur.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: There are a few things your need to know before reading. (1) I am really shitty writer. (2) This is written in the style of third person however it will still be in the point of view from a character. An example would be that this first chapter is seen from Romano's view. Hence the swearing. I will put a marker in between sections if I switch POVs. (3) I don't write smut. My reason being: see number 1. (4) I don't own the characters, they belong to Himaruya sensei._

* * *

Rome, Italy. June 30th. 1:26am.

It's the dead of night. The only sound that resonates among the long halls are the echoes of a pair of shoes tapping the floors. Even as the man dressed in black crawls through the window on the fourth floor and dashes across the marbled tiles, only the security guard's constant beat of his walk could be heard.

Silence was necessary to being a thief. It's no use making noise if you're trying to go unnoticed. Romano was talented at that; he never had to try to disappear, it just happened naturally. Which is why it was so easy for him to reach the display case and take the preserved documents inside without grabbing the guard's attention.

There was another thing Romano was good at: ruining things at the last minute. And it could go both ways of being an accident or being something he planned out. Normally the former was what occurred and the Italian never liked the outcomes of those events. Today just didn't happen to be his day.

His job was to grab the papers for his client. He figured he could get them a little more. It was important to get on a client's good side in order to get paid a larger sum. Being a freelance thief, he learned a few ways to claim a higher income.

He remembered there being a ruby necklace (apparently its value could buy a fucking island) in a room opposite of the window he came through Romano swiftly steps in and walks up to the display (seriously what's with the damn security around here?). On the way, he fails to notice the vase that stuck a little too far off its stand. First mistake.

Walking fairly close to the stand, Romano hits his foot against the base of the display. The next thing he knows, there's a pain in the tip of his foot as he mutters a few curses, all before he realizes that he hears footsteps running up the staircase.

How the fuck did they notic-? Oh. Well the shattered pottery on the ground would definitely explain it. Romano begins to sprint for his window at which he entered ten minutes earlier. There's a shout and he quickly glances over his shoulder to see the lone security guard just around the corner, coming after him. Second mistake.

Romano finds himself caught off guard and misses his footing, causing him to toss his bag upwards. The stolen documents begin to fly out and land on top of the now face-planted thief. The guard was a distance away, which gave Romano only enough time to grab half of the papers, stuff them in his bag, and run like the hellhounds were chasing him from beyond the grave.

He finally reached a safe spot and collapsed to his knees to take a breather. The Italian man could've been glad that he got away; but considering he failed his job in grabbing all the documents, and that his client was a mafia boss (and we all know how failure went with those crazy fuckers), Romano could see his end coming up in a few short hours. He ran through so many options in what do next. Running away? No… Someone's probably fucking monitoring him right now. Turn himself in? They'd probably just kill him. Go home? He can't risk someone following him when his brother was there. Fuck! All his options lead to his death anyway. He couldn't get out of this one. And it was all because he figured that if he could do this one job, he could get paid enough to live peacefully with his brother for a few years.

Romano was still on his knees, staring at the ground when he could hear footsteps coming from the front. _Shitshitshitshitshit._ The footsteps stop at the same time Romano sees their source stop right in front of him. A long pause ensues before the man speaks up.

"Did you complete your task?"

The Italian slowly looks up, only to meet darkened, emotionless eyes. This guy was most likely a hit man, by the look of the gun strapped to his back and his black suit. The fedora definitely added the description of 'douchebag' to his face. He probably was here to kill him if Romano answered no. Obviously he wasn't going to say that, despite it not being entirely the truth.

"Y-yes." God damn, why was his breath so shaky? _Calm down. If you don't he'll doubt you. Come on, calm down, dammit…! _

"Kid, you are a terrible liar."

"I'm not a kid."

"You are at least 20 if not 19 and by my standards, that makes you a child."

_Fuck, is he playing with me? Just fucking shoot me already. _Romano gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He can't believe this. He's being made fun of by a guy who's about to kill him! This is not how he wanted to die.

"Get up already." The douchebag pulls his gun off his back and begins to nudge Romano to get up. As soon as the thief stands up, he's back to looking down at the ground, preparing for the sound of a gun cocking but it never comes.

"Alright, now follow me."

Romano whips his head up to face the man, face full of confusion. "Is this how you normally kill people?"

"What?"

"You heard me, I don't have to fucking repeat it."

The man sighed as he began to put back his gun and adjust the straps. "Kid, I wasn't sent here to kill you, as much as your attitude is distasteful. I only have the gun for my protection."

"But I failed this job."

"Yeah. So?"

Romano was starting to get annoyed. Why the hell was this guy being so fucking vague?

"You guys are mafia, don't you kill people for not carrying out their tasks or some shit like that?"

"Yeah."

"So… Why aren't I dead yet?"

"The boss wanted to talk to you whether you failed or not. Besides, he already assumed from the beginning that you'd fail. Don't think too much about it, think of this like a test."

"A test for what?"

"Just follow me will ya?"

The thief stopped asking. He picked up his bag and began to follow the man, who already started walking along the road.

During the entire walk, Romano couldn't stop thinking about his brother. Was he even safe? Feliciano just finished school and was supposed to go to college. He didn't even know of his older brother's occupation. Of course he wouldn't; would any good natured, happy-go-lucky idiot accept that their family steals for their sake? No. Romano lied and told Feli that he worked the night shift at a restaurant on the opposite side on the capitol. He never wanted his brother to worry, despite all the risks he took to keep them alive. Oh, the irony in all of this.

It didn't take long until they arrived to a small casino. Romano was led through the back door and down a series of stairs. The man stopped in front of a door and knocks on it. By the pattern of the sound of the knocks, it was a password. Shortly the door opens and Romano is lead through into a dimly lit room.

He could barely make out the details of the room, it was so dark. He didn't even notice at first that the man he was following the entire time stand behind a larger man sitting down in front of a small coffee table. After finally taking in the setting, a mixture of confusion, anxiousness, and suspicion rose in Romano's mind.

"So? What do I owe the pleasure to meeting you face to face?"

The large man straightened himself up. "I'm glad I don't need to introduce myself, seeing how you already know who I am. Don't worry, boy. I didn't bring you here to kill you. I'm here to offer you a chance. An opportunity to freedom."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do," Romano scoffs.

"I don't lie, boy." The man leans forward and props his elbows on the table, finger tips woven into each other. "Give me a chance to explain."

The thief glares at his client, skeptic about what kind of 'offer' this man is giving him. He gives a nod of approval, hoping to get answers.

The man nods back and begins. "I understand your life, Vargas. You have a brother you want to take care of and barely have enough income to support the two of you. After your grandfather passed away four years ago, all of his fortune mysteriously disappeared, leaving his only family penniless."

I understand how you would resort to thievery so quickly just to live. I know of people who used to do that. But because of my understanding of their hardships, I feel for you. I know you don't want to keep doing this. It's hard to risk your life for the sake of staying alive."

So despite your failure of this mission, I still see talent in you, kid. So I'm gonna give you one more chance. And I feel generous, so the reward for you accomplishing the task I'm about to give you will be grand. What do you say?"

_I say bullshit, _Romano thought. No way can this guy be so willing to give him a chance. Why would he care? What could he possibly see in Romano that he'd pick him to do this? Did he have a damn choice? Romano continued to stay silent, trying to contemplate his options he laid out in his mind. Apperently he was taking too much time to think because the man suddenly sighs and stands up.

"I understand you want time to decide but the thing is, I don't have enough of that to give you. So let's quickly have your final decision, yes?" He waves his hand back to the hit man whom Romano had forgotten was standing behind him the entire conversation. The man nods and pulls his gun off his back. Romano winces, thinking he was going to have him at gun point. What happened turned out to be a much worse situation. Much worse.

The fedora man walks to a closet door and opens it. Out of the closet tumbles out a boy, gagged and his hands tied behind his back. He was crying, his light brown hair ruffled around as if someone had been pulling him by the head. Romano's eyed widened and his expression went from surprised to anger. It only took him a second before he tried to punch the man in front of him before screaming at him.

"Why the fuck was my brother doing in the fucking closet?! Tell me NOW!" His fist was so close to his target's face, but before he could land a hit, he found himself grounded in a head lock by another lackey who just entered the room. "YOU BASTARD, LET HIM GO!" Romano struggled to get the man holding him down off of his back but it was no use.

The mafia boss cleared his throat, hardly reacting to what Romano hoped to do to his face. "I expected you to just agree to my proposal but you had to choose the hard way, kid. Now, what you're going to do now is accept my next job. If you don't, the first thing that you're going to do is watch your brother fall to the ground and never get up, got it?"

Romano growled, his anger level only rising. He glared at the three men in the room and looked at Feliciano, who clearly heard everything his client said and even more tears welled up in his eyes as he stared back at his older brother. Romano panicked. He couldn't get out of this but he didn't believe the mafia with their words. It was all lies. Right? Right?

"I'm giving you three seconds to answer. One."

Feliciano started to scream. Romano could only stare at his little brother. Feliciano didn't deserve any of this. It should be Romano to be the one getting shot. It was his fault. If it wasn't for him, his brother wouldn't be here. If he agreed, he could be putting him more at risk.

"Two."

But at this exact moment, he really didn't have a choice did he?

"Thr-"

"Okay." Romano closed his eyes, waiting for the silence to last only to speak up just in case a gunshot would go off. "I accept your job. Now get this guy off me and untie my brother."

The boss smiled before nodding at his two men to do as Romano requested. Shortly, the only people in the room were Romano, Feliciano, and the boss and his hit man. Feliciano had a grip on Romano's right arm, standing closely behind his brother.

"Fratello? What's going on? I was walking home a-and then… I don't even remember wh-what happened!" Tears began to leak from his eyes once again, his grip on his brother's arm tightening. Romano looked at his brother, trying to think of an answer but nothing came up. What was he supposed to say?

"Feli, it's going to be okay. I promise. I'll explain properly after this is over," Romano assures. But he really couldn't be sure if everything would be truly okay. He looks back to the boss, who was back to sitting in his chair. The only thing different was that there was a file on the coffee table in front of him. "Alright I accepted the damn job, but you didn't tell me what I'd be doing or what I'll get out of this."

The man picks up the file and hands it to Romano. "You can read that later. It's about your target."

Romano suddenly becomes confused and interjects, "I don't kill people if that's what you're asking me to do."

His client chuckles. "Oh no, nothing like that. I'd be doing that myself if the situation calls for it. You, my boy, just do what you do best." He points to Romano as he says this.

"All I need you to do, is obtain a very special ring. However, it's in America at the moment. Not to mention it's in the hands of a silly Spaniard not much older than yourself."

"So you want me to go to America to grab it. Got it." Romano nods.

"That's the gist of it, but it's a little more complicated than that. Allow me to let you in on a bit of my family history. Many generations back, my family had a large fortune. However in those days, pirates raided the shores and my family wasn't very lucky. They were robbed of everything, down to the last coin.

"I never figured out what happened to that money until recently. As it turns out, the captain of that pirate ship that took away everything hid away all his treasure and locked away the secrets of the hidden area in a ring he owned. His descendant, the Spaniard, has possession of this ring. I've also attainted knowledge that there were other secrets that were only passed down orally."

"Anyways, that's where you come in. I want you to go America, and take the ring. However, I want the secrets to his family that can only be taken through trust. This is why I say it's complicated. I will give you one year. One year to gain this man's trust and take the ring and all his secrets. You will then give them to me and I will give you your reward."

Silence entered the room. Romano wasn't confused but he was definitely nervous. He'd only ever done small time jobs. How the hell did he get stuck with this? America? Seriously?

"What do I get in return for success from this job?"

"As I explained before, I understand your hardships. And if you do accomplish this task, the sum will be without a doubt, in the millions. If you succeed, I will give you and your brother enough to get by for at least 5 years. What you really do with the money is up to you. But I think that is being _extremely_ generous, don't you think?"

It was a really amazing offer. Romano wanted to say yes, but he couldn't resist asking first, "If I fail?"

"I think the answer would be obvious after the previous display, no?"

Romano knew the answer, of course he'd say yes. Well, he couldn't say no. He had to take the offer. The real challenge would be if he could succeed. But he had no real choice in the matter. He looked behind to his brother, who only could give him an expression of confusion. Romano sighs and looks back at the man sitting down once more.

"When do we start?"

* * *

A_/N: I think we can all agree on the typical plot line and that everything will be predicted. Also, I am terrible at tenses, forgive me. And I forgot to mention something… You probably won't get any real interaction between the main pairing until the next couple chapters. Sorry if this is slow. Also, reviews are appreciated! It could really help for me to improve the story or my ability to write in general… I don't have this fanfiction planned out, so I'm willing to take any ideas for now. Also, is one year too short? Too long?_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: I didn't really realize until now that the first chapter was way over 2k+ words… So have a much shorter chapter! Because the next one will probably be freaking long! Anyways, Antonio will probably not show up until the next chapter. If not then, he will definitely show up in the fourth chapter. I'll try to pick up the pace but go steady at the same time. No one likes a rushed fic yeah? _

_Oh and I really messed up with the first chapter by not properly describing characters, so it was hard to address the mafia boss and his hit man, so they will be referred to as Don and Giovanni respectively. (I am too lazy to change the first chapter so bear with me please)_

* * *

Rome, Italy. July 3rd. 8:27pm.

It had been three days since Romano took what should become his last job. In just a couple of hours, he would be on a plane to America. He sighed and sunk into his seat at the terminal. Feliciano looked up from his phone to his brother. "Ve, fratello, are you okay? You didn't get a lot of sleep this morning," the concern in his voice was obvious.

Romano nodded in reply. He didn't even respond with words, he was too lost in his own thoughts. He kept to repeating the agreements he had made with his client the first night they met.

...

_Back to June 30th. 2:36am._

'_When do we start?'_

_Romano's client grinned. 'Immediately.' He snapped his fingers and Giovanni walked forward, pulling out an envelope out from his back pocket. He placed it on the coffee table, next to the folder of what was supposedly information on the Spaniard Romano is supposed to go after. 'It's not important to open these until you get to America. I won't talk too much about it, but in the envelope are cards for you to use for any expenses. Don't worry about the billing, I will pay for everything. Just don't abuse this privilege either.' _

_Romano gave him a questioning look. "Really," he said in his most sarcastic tone. "You're going to let me live off your money for a year."_

"_Yes. The fortune you are going after makes what I will spend look like chicken feed. Don't fret on it. I know you'll succeed." _

Right. Even though you do have a doubt that I will succeed, seeing how you threaten to kill my brother and I if I fail, _Romano thought. He understood how much he was being allowed to have but he wasn't going to take everything until his requirements were met. _

"_I'm glad you put so much faith in me. However, before I can fully agree to any of this, I have some conditions." _

_Don looked surprised. "Conditions? After everything I've given you so far?"_

"_I want my brother to come with me. And I want him to go to college for the entire year we are there."_

"_I don't see how that's relevan-," said the older man before getting cut off._

"_It's relevant to me to knowing that my brother is safe and is still getting the education I've been working to get him. That clears my head and I work better this way. Does that make sense?"_

_Don stared at him, and chuckled. "Of course. I'll make arrangements for that immediately. However I am putting him in a school of my choosing." He almost busted out laughing at Romano's glare. "Don't worry your pretty little head. It's a good school! As a matter of fact, your target studies there. Should I make arrangements for you to attend as well? It may be a bit easier for you."_

"_I don't care as long as Feliciano can get the damn education," Romano growled._

"_Very well. You have my word," Don said with a nod._

_..._

That was the end of it. The next couple of days blurred past Feliciano. He didn't know what to think. Well, he did but it would take him a while to process everything. His brother got paid to steal things for other people instead of making pizza which he thought he did. He gets to go to college thanks to Romano as well.

After the deal was made and they had returned home, Feliciano argued that Romano didn't need to worry about him. When Romano wouldn't hear of it, Feliciano gave up but never stopped thanking his older brother. He really didn't know what he'd do without him. Sometimes he felt like Romano hated him because their grandfather seemed to give him more attention but after the incident four years ago, he found his brother doing everything to keep them alive.

Feliciano smiled to himself, accidentally letting out a happy sigh.

"What the hell are you so happy about?," Romano asked, giving his brother a weird look.

"I'm just happy to be here with you!"

"You do realize the situation here right? We will be fucking killed if I can't do things right. You understand that?" Romano's voice was sullen and raspy, the words came out as a harsh whisper.

Feliciano frowned. "Of course I understand! I don't think you're going to fail though. Even if you did, I wouldn't really blame you. You had no choice, fratello. Plus, when you agreed, you saved my life! I could've died three nights ago but I didn't thanks to you!" He pulled his older brother into a tight hug.

Romano winced at the sudden bone-crushing embrace but never struggled. He could only wonder why people would put this kind of faith in him. How does he really deserve any kind of trust? He didn't want to think about it.

"Idiota, don't shout things like that. People are going to spread rumors. And get up, they're announcing for us to board."

Without another word they picked up their carry-ons and boarded the plane. Right before they took off Feliciano still was smiling. He did understand the situation, and he would do his best to support his brother. Romano always preferred to do things on his own but with being threatened like this, he shouldn't have to do things on his own. But he still had his faith and the thing that made him the happiest really was that he got to be with Romano.

* * *

_A/N: Run on sentences and wrongly used tenses are beautiful (not really). Sorry for those, I don't English properly. This chapter must've been boring but I really have the need to put in explanations. If anyone gets confused with the plot, I'll do my best to correct and explain. I re-read my chapters so I make sure I'm not forgetting anything. I'm still trying to think out the scenarios in the future, so this may (or may not) get messy… One more thing, as far as side pairings go: I will definitely be putting in GerIta. I'm open for other ideas. I might put in one-sided Prumano because I am secretly in love with that pairing when it comes to the one-sided thing. I talk too much. But yeah._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: The setting is New York because I am lame. I understand I don't have to put in real life locations, but I thought it'd be more interesting. I also did not realize that I set up the days to where this chapter would start off on Independence Day (go figure). One more thing, I've been updating quickly, but I think I'm going too fast (and I will be busy with college soon) so I am going to have to slow down on the updates._

* * *

New York, USA. July 3rd. 10:47pm.

The plane ride was roughly eight hours long and Romano was deadbeat. He spent the whole ride trying to figure out how he would befriend his target. He really was terrible at trying to get anyone to like him. It didn't help that he didn't really like people. When they got to the hotel, he was too tired to think anymore. Despite Feliciano's suggestions to take a shower or brush his teeth, Romano just face planted himself onto his bed and fell asleep.

…

July 4th. 8:16am.

Romano woke up to a nudge to his side. Well not really, he woke up to falling to the floor, tangled in blankets. Feliciano rushed to his side.

"Ve, Romano, are you okay?"

"Should you really be asking me that after pushing me off the bed?!" Romano growled.

"I-I'm sorry… It's just… you wouldn't wake up. And we have to get ready soon for registration, remember?" Feliciano took out his phone to show his older brother the time.

The dark haired Italian stared at the screen for a while and scowled. "You idiot! That's tomorrow! Today's a god damn holiday."

Feliciano blinked and looked at the date. "Ah! You're right! I'm sorry!" he said after realizing his mistake. He ran for the door and shouted, "I'm gonna get breakfast!"

Romano just glared at the now closed door. His brother sure knew how to escape before he would start screaming for being unnecessarily woken up. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. _We don't have to do anything until tomorrow, I might as well become familiar with the area first._

After he got ready and left the hotel, the Italian found himself looking down at a map, trying to find the campus that he and his brother would soon enroll in. It wasn't even ten minutes later when he did find it and began to venture around. The university wasn't very large. It was a private school, meant for international students from all around the world. Romano had read somewhere that there were less than 500 students attending. That should mean that it would be easier to find whoever he was looking for.

He spent about half an hour familiarizing himself with the campus before deciding he had enough and began to find the gate he had entered through. A song began to play out of Romano's back pocket. He took out his phone and answered.

"Pronto."

"Fratello, I'm really sorry about waking you up today!"

"It's fine, Feli. I'm not mad… Now what do you want?"

"I wanted to know where you were, ve~ When I came back to the room, you were gone!"

"I went to go find the campus and I did, so I'm coming back now."

"Alright! Oh by the way, someone told me about a fireworks display going on near the harbor! Do you wanna go?"

"Do I sound like I want to go?" Romano said with and exasperated sigh. He almost saw the disappointment on his brother's face in his mind before he said, "Fine. Fine! We can go, but you're paying for dinner when we go out."

"Romano, you know that the money is really not an issue since it's not technically ours ri-"

"You're still paying. Whatever."

Feliciano laughed on his end of the line. "Alright, alright. Come back soon 'kay?"

Romano didn't have the chance to hang up. As he turned at the corner of a building, he bumped right into someone else and almost fell on his back if it weren't for the person catching him by his wrist. Romano winced at the sudden jolt in his arm. As soon as he had his balance back, he swatted away the stranger's hand.

"Watch where you're going, bastard," he scoffed.

"I'm sorry, I probably should be paying a bit more attention to where I'm going! Although to be fair, I think you weren't really looking where you were going either," the stranger chuckled.

Romano shot a glare at the man, but didn't say anything. He noticed the remarkably shining green eyes the stranger had. The man only smiled before asking, "Are you new here? I've never seen your face before."

"I register for classes tomorrow. Now go away."

The man's face never faltered. "Now don't say that! Hey, maybe we'll see each other around!" He put out his hand, inviting for a handshake. "My name's Antonio. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo!"

Romano didn't take his hand, he didn't even look at it. He simply turned around, not giving two shits about the man he just met. "And I don't need to waste my time. Bye." Not wanting to give the guy a chance to try and keep Romano there, he ran at top speed towards the exit.

…

July 4th. 7:58pm.

After the fireworks display, the Vargas twins went and found a small pizzeria close to their hotel. Feliciano kept talking and talking about what he was going to do when they would finally go to school as they ate. Romano just nodded occasionally, sometimes he would pause his brother to make snide comments about the food. Italian food really wasn't real in America, was it?

"Ve, so how was the campus?"

"It was okay."

"Just okay? Did you even look at the buildings or meet anyone?" Feliciano asked as he picked up another slice of pizza.

Romano paused before he said, "I didn't see anything worthwhile. It looks like any other damn college. And the only person I encountered was some idiot who doesn't pay attention when walking. He almost made me fall over, the bastard."

"Fratello, sometimes you do that too… Not pay attention, I mean."

"Shut up I don't."

Feliciano smiled. "Of course, of course~ … Did he say who he was?"

"He had a long ass name that's for sure. Antonio or whatever. I didn't really care, I kind of just ignored him when he introduced himself."

There was a moment of silence before Feliciano spoke up, "Ve, Romano, isn't your target supposed to be Spanish and going to that university? Antonio is a Spanish name."

"…Shit."

…

When the two got back to their room, Romano began rummaging through his bag for the file he had been given (and definitely did NOT forget to look over it, he was planning to look at it eventually… Later… In the future). Once he found it, he opened it and dumped all of its contents on his bed. His eyes dashed over the papers to find the name. Within seconds he found the first piece with his target's basic information. He picked up the paper, repeatedly looking at the letters scrawled across the top.

'Antonio Fernandez Carriedo'

"Fuck." Romano smacked the back of his head. He mouthed off and walked away from the one person he had to make an effort to interact with. Great. Just great.

His eyes wandered to a photo among the pile of papers. It indeed was the same person he met that afternoon. Those same damn green eyes couldn't possibly belong to anyone else. Who the hell has eyes THAT green? Romano groaned, knowing he pretty much fucked up with the first interaction, but he decided to read through all the papers with hope that he could figure out a way to fix his mistake.

He had just finished reading the last of the file when a yawn escaped his lips. Feliciano already went to bed, so Romano decided he would retire as well. He reorganized the papers he had laid out on his bed back into the folder and got under the covers. It didn't take long until he drifted into deep sleep.

* * *

_A/N: Antonio makes an appearance! I really, really BRIEF appearance! I am so cliché, and I am not sorry about it. I just really wanted a school setting. I found a bunch of headcanons that I want to insert in the story, so expect a lot of fluffy drabbles! If that's the case, I may have to change the genre a bit. I really wanted this chapter to be longer, but with the way things went, I just couldn't extend it. Hopefully it will be longer in the next chapter._


End file.
